person = ['name', ['savings', 100.00]] personClone = person import copy personDup = copy.deepcopy(person) print [id(x) for x in person, personClone, personDup] personClone[0] = 'joe' personDup[0] = 'jane' print personClone, personDup personClone[1][1] = 50.00 print personClone, personDup